1. Field of Invention
Lighting devices such as flashlights are frequently required to emit light of more than one color. These plural color lighting devices permit their operator to select any of several colors of emitted light.
Plural color lighting devices are required to be efficient in both creating light and concentrating the light into a desired beam pattern. LED emitters are highly efficient sources of light, available in a multiplicity of colors and typically emit their light in a hemispherical pattern. Light concentrating optics are used to condense the hemispherical light from LED emitters into a concentrated light beam. Light concentrating optics such as parabolic reflectors are well known devices employed to concentrate light into a concentrated beam.
2. Prior Art
Plural color lighting devices have in prior art included an incandescent lamp with its color altered by covering it with any one of a plurality of color filters.
LED light emitters have been employed with large parabolic reflectors to create flashlights with high intensity concentrated light beams. In order to maximize the efficiency of the device and collect all of the light emitted by the LED emitter the large parabolic reflector is made to fill the entire hemisphere above the LED emitter. In these designs, the LED emitters are small and usually positioned within a large parabolic reflector at the focal point. The large size of the parabolic reflector relative to the LED emitter is desirable because this assures efficient control of the light being concentrated.
These prior art designs emit a concentrated light beam of only one color with that color determined by the color emitted by the LED emitter. An efficient prior art design could be created to emit a plurality of colors, however, this would require a plurality of large parabolic reflectors each with a dedicated LED emitter of a different color at its focal point. The plurality of large parabolic reflectors would make the design bulky and expensive both of which are undesirable. Bulky lighting devices are more easily damaged, difficult to hold and more costly to store and ship.                Prior art has not produced a plural color lighting device which is compact and highly efficient.        Prior art has not produced a plural color lighting device which uses a single parabolic reflector to concentrate light of different colors emitted by a plurality of LED emitters.        Prior art positions the LED emitter very close to the reflector to maximize efficiency leaving no clearance for unencumbered relative lateral movement.        Prior art does not move the reflector relative to the LED.        Prior art does not concentrate a plurality of visually identifiable discrete colors using a single reflector.        Prior art does not provide a switching system to energize the LED when the LED is at the focal or light concentrating point of the reflector or a switching system to extinguish the LED when it is away from the focal point.        Prior art does not provide a color changer mechanism to move a single reflector relative to a plurality of LED emitters        